1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of packaging and dispensing of products, particularly consumer products, and most specifically to dispensation of products from collapsible tubes. In its broadest respects, the invention relates to mechanical devices for use on or in association with containers in the form of collapsible tubes containing viscous materials to be dispensed therefrom.
2. Background of the Invention
For many years, products in the form of viscous liquids or semi-solid pastes have been packaged for dispensation by the consumer in containers in the form of collapsible tubes. In use, the consumer would apply compressive force to the outside of the tube to extrude the needed amount of the material contained in it through a closable orifice at the end of the tube.
Initially, such tubes were made from thin metal foils, with or without non-metallic coating materials. The metallic foils from which such tubes were made were permanently deformable, with the result that the end of the tube remote from the opening could be crimped and folded as the contents of the tube were consumed, thereby progressively decreasing the operative volume of the tube. With such constructions, the remaining volume of the tube contents was always presented as a mass occupying all or nearly all of the diameter of the tube and was prevented from being extruded by the application of compressive forces back into the previously collapsed area of the tube. Accordingly, the remaining contents of the tube could be expelled by the application of relatively minor compressive force on the remaining filled volume of the tube.
With the advent of more modern packing materials, a variety of industrial and consumer products previously dispensed in permanently deformable metal tubes have come to be dispensed in tubular packages made from plastics and other non-metallic materials. While these newer packaging materials provide many advantages in terms of economy of manufacture, protection of the contents, and outward physical appearance, many of the materials used for this purpose are no longer permanently deformable in the way that the previously used metal tubes were. Utilization of such non-permanently deformable tubular packaging materials results in tubular packages which are not capable of confining the remaining contents of the tube to the area of the tube nearest the opening. Accordingly, much time and consumer aggravation is incurred in laboriously compressing the tube from the end remote from the opening through the full length of the tube until the remaining contents of the tube have been forced to the end from which they can be expelled. Attempts to crimp or roll the ends of such tubes in the manner heretofore used with permanently deformable metal tubes may result in temporary deformation of the tube but has not generally been successful in permanently reducing the operative volume of the tube.
In an effort to deal with the inconvenience and aggravation associated with this phenomenon, a variety of mechanical devices have been developed for use in association with such non-permanently deformable tubes to confine the remaining contents of the tube to the end of the tube nearest the opening. For example, it has been proposed to use a slotted key-like device to engage the bottom of the tube and to roll a portion of the bottom of the tube about the key member to express the contents therefrom and to prevent the remaining contents from reentering the collapsed portion of the tube. These devices have been unsatisfactory in preventing tubular packages made from modern non-permanently deformable packaging material from unrolling upon the application of compressive force to the remaining volume of the tube.
It has also been proposed to employ clip-type devices clamped to the bottom of the tube to hold a manually folded portion of the end of the tube in place during normal use of the tube. Such devices suffered from significant inconvenience associated with repeated opening and closing of the clipped device as the contents of the tube is expended. Moreover, these devices suffered from a general inability of the force exerted by the clip to prevent extrusion of the remaining contents of the tube back into the previously folded area of the tube, apparently due to an inability of such devices to exert a uniform compressive force across the entire cross-section of the tube.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a simple, inexpensive device to be used on or in association with tubular packages made from non-permanently deformable packaging materials which will permit the certain and facile confinement of the remaining contents of such tubes to the end of the tube closest to the outlet.